Hindi
Americannoun
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the most widely spoken of the modern Indic vernaculars, especially its best-known variety, Western Hindi.
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a literary language derived from Hindustani, used by Hindus.
noun
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a language or group of dialects of N central India. It belongs to the Indic branch of the Indo-European family and is closely related to Urdu See also Hindustani
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a formal literary dialect of this language, the official language of India, usually written in Nagari script
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a person whose native language is Hindi
Etymology
Origin of Hindi
First recorded in 1790–1800; from Hindi, Urdu, equivalent to Persian Hind, Hindu (compare Sanskrit Sindhu “river,” specifically the Indus river, with the extended sense “region of the Indus; Sind”) + -ī a suffix indicating relationship or origin; replacing Hinduee, from Persian Hinduī; see also Sind
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Recordings, paintings, manuscripts and more reveal how songs in Persian, Urdu, Classical Hindi and Punjabi spread throughout the Mughal Empire and across the network of the East India Company from the 16th century onward.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
Sixty years after Nirmala waited a week to hear one Hindi song, her grandson Krish scrolls through Punjabi music on his phone in seconds.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
"I have sent my resignation letter to the prime minister," Pradhan said in his letter in Hindi.
From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026
"I want my son's body to be returned to us. We should also be told what happened in his final moments," his father, Rajesh Sharma, told BBC Hindi.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
“I know. Anyway, I’m done talking about all that. Let’s see if we can find a Mira Nair movie on the Hindi channel.”
From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
